# Trend Follower

Directional strategy for confirmed momentum.

## Best Used When
- trend is strong and persistent
- structure supports continuation
- liquidity is normal
- Hermes wants to follow momentum instead of fading it

## Avoid When
- price is range-bound
- trend strength is weak or noisy
- event risk is high
- the market is too chaotic for clean continuation

## How It Works
- The strategy acts on the configured side, not on an internal trend model.
- `trade_side` controls whether it can buy, sell, or accept either side. `both` is symmetric and depends on Hermes or the operator for direction.
- `balance_target` is a wallet-allocation target, not a position-size target.
- For `buy`, sub-`1.0` values stop the strategy once the base share of wallet value reaches the target.
- For `sell`, sub-`1.0` values stop the strategy once the quote share reaches the target.
- When an order would overshoot a sub-`1.0` target, the last order is clamped to the remaining gap.
- `entry_offset_pct` sets the limit price offset for new entries.
- `cooldown_ticks` pauses the next few ticks after a successful order.

## Parameters
- `trade_side`: Allowed side selection. `buy` and `sell` make it one-sided; `both` is symmetric and relies on Hermes for direction.
- `balance_target`: Allocation target between `0.0` and `1.0`. `1.0` means keep trading until the funding side is exhausted. Lower values stop once the wallet reaches the requested mix.
- `entry_offset_pct`: Limit-price offset used for new entries. Buy orders are placed above the last price, sell orders below it.
- `exit_offset_pct`: Reserved for exit or reversal pricing in policy and supervision output. It is part of the contract even though the current entry path only uses `entry_offset_pct`.
- `order_notional_quote`: Target quote notional per order.
- `max_order_notional_quote`: Optional hard cap on quote notional per order.
- `dust_collect`: Lets the shared sizing helper consume leftover size more aggressively when a venue minimum would otherwise strand a small remainder.
- `cooldown_ticks`: Number of ticks to wait after a successful order before the strategy can act again.
- `debug_orders`: Enables order-placement debug logging.

## Hermes Policy Mapping
- Hermes controls whether the side is active.
- Hermes may set `balance_target` to define how far the wallet should rotate.
- Hermes may set the quote notional and offsets.
- `apply_policy()` currently records the derived values but does not rewrite the config the way the grid and exposure strategies do.

## Notes
- Hermes decides when trend following is allowed.
- Trader maps policy to concrete order behavior.
- The strategy reports side, quote notional, and policy-derived settings.
- `trade_side` lets Hermes or the operator run a long-only, short-only, or symmetric directional instance.
- `balance_target=1.0` means keep trading until no more usable size remains on the funding side.
- In `buy` mode, values below `1.0` target the base share of wallet value. Example: `0.5` stops near a 50/50 base-quote split.
- In `sell` mode, values below `1.0` target the quote share of wallet value. Example: `0.5` stops near a 50/50 quote-base split.
- When an order would overshoot a sub-`1.0` `balance_target`, the final order is clamped to the remaining target gap instead of sending the full configured notional.
- live fee rates are used directly, so the strategy does not need a configured fee fallback.

## Useful Example
```json
{
  "trade_side": "buy",
  "balance_target": 0.8,
  "entry_offset_pct": 0.0035,
  "exit_offset_pct": 0.002,
  "order_notional_quote": 25,
  "max_order_notional_quote": 40,
  "dust_collect": true,
  "cooldown_ticks": 3,
  "debug_orders": false
}
```

This is a practical long-only accumulation setup. It keeps buying until the wallet is roughly 80 percent base by value, uses a modest entry offset, and avoids oversized last orders.